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California diocese vote to leave U.S. Episcopal Church is a first

New York -- For the first time since the American Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865, an entire diocese of the U.S. Episcopal (Anglican) Church has voted to leave the denomination.

The December 8 vote by the central California diocese of San Joaquin follows disagreement with the national church hierarchy, which in 2003 approved the consecration of V. Gene Robinson, a divorced man who lives in a same-sex relationship, as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.

Fair Trade products go on Web

LOUISVILLE -- A non-profit organization related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has launched a Fair Trade Web site aimed at helping disadvantaged Peruvian artisans find a new marketplace for their goods and earn a sustainable wage in return.

The Partners for Just Trade (PJT) Web site makes it easy to purchase Peruvian handcrafts and other products online and educates consumers about the meaning of fair and just trade.

Natural church growth: Book helps churches focus and change

Mainline church decline is so well known in contemporary American parlance as to border on the cliché. But awareness does not always lead to response. Christian A Schwarz's, Natural Church Development (Churchsmart Resources: Carol Stream, Illinois, 7th edition, 2006) is one place congregations have turned in order to begin to address these issues of decline and growth in a practical, tangible, and measurable way.

What makes a church grow? More than that, is it okay to admit that you might want to know the answer?

Centre College named alternate debate location

(PNS) The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced the locations of next year's three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.

Farley wins 2007 Grawemeyer Award

(RNS) Sister Margaret A. Farley, a Roman Catholic nun and former Yale Divinity School ethicist, has been awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion by the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville.

Eyewitness account #4: Lahore after assassination of Benazir Bhutto

What we hope is the final update on this situation:

         Pakistan has simmered for the last two days under a 'state of mourning'. Frankly, I preferred the State of Emergency! Stores that dare to open to sell niceties like food have to shield their windows, ready to roll down metal shutters in case roving mobs of PPP supporters come by to 'enforce' grief on their bazaar. Gas stations are nearly all closed for the same reason, and even the largest ambulance service has temporarily suspended operations due to a lack of petrol. 

         A story on one of the Pakistani news channels last night gave the final totals of grief on Thursday: something like 50 killed, hundreds seriously injured, more than 300 shops looted and then burned, an undetermined number of houses burned, 110 banks burned, 75 train cars burned, 15 petrol pumps, etc.

Eyewitness account #3: Lahore after assassination of Benazir Bhutto

All was well until Thursday when this country was rocked to its core by Benazir's assassination.  Our lives have since been dominated by watching TV, reading online, and pondering what will come next in this tumultuous environment.  We have no wisdom to impart: we're watching the same news you are. Our Pakistani colleagues don't have a sense of what will happen either.  We've tightened security on campus and closed the college offices until January 2. 

Eyewitness Account #2: Lahore after assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Daylight has come to Pakistan, as has calm. Grief, shock and anger over Benazir Bhutto's assassination, however, are still with us. It appears that the wave of rage that washed over some areas in the night subsided fairly early. The three day mourning period for Benazir has begun, and with it, an uneasy truce. However, the potential for violence remains high, so high that the city of Karachi (a PPP stronghold) is under virtual lockdown today, with flights in and out of that city suspended for the day.   Here in Lahore, there were small, but violent demonstrations.

Eyewitness account: Lahore after assassination of Benazir Bhutto

As I am sure you are hearing, all of Pakistan's major cities are experiencing violent demonstrations right now. The 'good' news (if you can call it that) is that it is not pervasive, and seems to be limited to certain always-tense areas. The PPP - Benazir's party - has mobilized across the southern province of Sindh, and some cities, notably Hyderabad, are virtually cut-off from the rest of Pakistan by blocked roads, fires and marching mobs.

2007 was a quiet harbinger of significant things to come

History books are full of dates that mark seminal events: 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door and launched the Protestant Reformation; or 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion.

Those boldface dates are preceded by less prominent but nonetheless decisive times: 1516, when a Dominican named Johann Tetzel led the sale of indulgences that deeply angered Luther; and 1970, when a young Texas woman named Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) filed suit to obtain an abortion.

Form of government changes, options prepared for ’08 Assembly

LOUISVILLE -- Recognizing there is opposition to some of what it has proposed, but still confident that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) needs a more flexible form of government to navigate in a post-modern world, the Form of Government Task Force is recommending significant changes in the denomination's constitution, but providing opportunities for amendment if the broader church disagrees.

The task force is recommending what its members think is best -- doing what it thinks is right for the church after a year and a half of hard work. But it's also providing options on some particularly sticky issues if the 2008 General Assembly comes to a different conclusion. It met Nov. 30 -- Dec. 2 in Louisville.

Hunter Farrell to mission pastors: Dare to change, go beyond “programs”

LOUISVILLE -- Hunter Farrell has learned a lot in his years serving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Congo and Peru. One of the things he's learned:  "There's a cost to being missional."

Now Farrell, the new director of world mission for the PC(USA), is challenging Presbyterians to think in new ways.

He's sending signals that the denomination's national staff is ready "to move into a new mode of doing mission," that it wants to work in real partnership with "mission initiators" from local congregations and presbyteries.